DIY First Watt Bride of Zen Balanced Pre

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justauby

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DIY First Watt Bride of Zen Balanced Pre
« on: 12 Feb 2018, 08:02 pm »
Is their anyone that can build this pre-amplifier for me? 

https://www.passdiy.com/project/preamplifiers/bride-of-zen

dcbingaman

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Re: DIY First Watt Bride of Zen Balanced Pre
« Reply #1 on: 21 Feb 2018, 06:56 am »
I can build you one, but we need a pcb.  There is one available here: http://www.kk-pcb.com/bls.html

Note this is a balanced version, (probably quieter).  The +/- 60V power supply will require a second board, available through diyaudio.com.  This is a pretty good line stage with some gain.

Two other possibilities.  If you don't need gain, I have a spare stuffed PassDIY B-1 board which you can have for free.  It can use an 18-24 VDC wall-wart power supply and give very good sound. 

If you NEED gain, then the one you want to build is the Korg Nutube direct heated triode version which gives about 15 dB of gain.  (Incidentally, you probably don't need gain if all your sources produce 2V of output and your amp can be driven to full output with 2V or less - most will.).

This NuTube triode B-1 board should be available through diyaudio.com or PassDIY.com any day now.  Nelson Pass presented this new B-1 at 2017 BAF, and loves this thing.  It has variable bias on the triode which changes its character from very neutral to sounding like a 12AX7 triode based preamp, (think Dynaco PAS-3), that is somewhat "warm" with predominantly 2nd order harmonic distortion.

justauby

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Re: DIY First Watt Bride of Zen Balanced Pre
« Reply #2 on: 21 Feb 2018, 01:37 pm »
I don't NEED gain i don't think, I've always found it nice to have just in case.  I do tend to play louder than most.  My HF is around 110 db/watt 2" compression driver.  Don't need anything fancy, just balanced in and balanced out.  All my other gear is balanced xlr's so i want to keep it the same all the way through the chain.  I watched the youtube video of BAF 2017 and the B-1 sounded great from the man himself, but was single ended i believe.  My amps are listed below, let me know which you think would be best to build.

Atma-Sphere S-30 OTL:  Input Sensitivity 3v / Input Impedance 200 KΩ balanced / Gain 23db (8ohm)
ATI AT523NC: Input Sensitivity 1.5v / Input Impedance 47 kΩ Balanced for each phase / Gain 28.5db

dcbingaman

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Re: DIY First Watt Bride of Zen Balanced Pre
« Reply #3 on: 21 Feb 2018, 02:12 pm »
The balanced Bride of Zen would be perfect for your needs, particularly because your Atma-Sphere amp wants 3V to drive to full output. 

I can order the PCB's today and let you know when they come in.  We can get the other parts from Digikey and Antek pretty quickly.  I recommend Elna Silmic caps for the audio circuit.  Handmade Electronics has a nice selection there.

Do you know what cabinet, volume, balance and source selector switches you want ?  Balanced pots and switches are a little harder to find.  I have some Toco silver 4PDT switches if you only need a couple sources.

 Diyaudio.com as some nice cabinets from Hi-Fi 2000 from Italy.  Look at their store selections.

justauby

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Re: DIY First Watt Bride of Zen Balanced Pre
« Reply #4 on: 21 Feb 2018, 02:34 pm »
I only need 1 source and 1 out.  No source selection needed really, just volume.  I only use digital and have all my EQ handle by my pc, very happy with this setup.